Saturday, February 4, 2012

Stuart's Dragon

There once was a
boy named Stuart who wanted a pet dragon more than anything in the world. He
begged and begged his parents to give him one for his birthday, but all he got
was a stuffed dragon toy instead. Stuart was sad when he saw the toy because he
was old enough to know the difference between a toy and a real live dragon. He
thought his parents were making fun of him.

Stuart’s mom saw
how sad he was, so she sat down with him and explained that real dragons were
very hard to come by. She said that even if they could find one, it would be
too expensive to buy and they probably wouldn’t be allowed to keep it—just like
the man on the news who got in trouble for having an illegal pet monkey. There
were lots of laws about exotic animals, and dragons were definitely exotic.

Stuart felt
better after talking with his mom. He still wanted a pet dragon, but he
realized that if he was going to get one, he’d have to take matters into his
own hands. If his family couldn’t buy a live dragon, then he’d have to make one
out of a dog.

One sunny afternoon,
Stuart went to work. He carried all of his craft supplies out to the backyard,
then whistled as loud as he could. Seconds later, Snickers, the family golden
retriever, came running around the corner. If you’ve ever had a golden
retriever, then you know they love attention and are always ready to play.
Today was no exception; Snickers couldn’t be happier than to let Stuart turn
him into a dragon.

Stuart started by
cutting big triangles out of cardboard and painting them green. With a little string,
he was able to prop them up in a line down Snickers’ back. Then he used his
crayons to draw lots and lots of scales on pieces of construction paper that he
taped to Snickers’ side. He also cut out a dragon mask that he drew and used a
rubber band to keep it on Snickers’ head (making sure, of course, that Snickers
could still see and breathe easily). After adding some decorations of
popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, glitter and a few other supplies he found
around the house, Stuart finally took a step back to admire his work. Snickers
wagged his tail rapidly and let out a bark of approval.

“I agree,” said
Stuart. “You make a fine dragon if I ever saw one.”

Stuart was so
happy to finally have a dragon! He was also anxious to show him off to the neighborhood.
Grabbing Snickers’ leash, which made the dragon very excited, he took his new
pet for a walk through the park.

The dragon sure
drew a lot of attention that day. Parents pointed and little kids stood in awe
as he marched through the playground. Both Stuart and Snickers were so proud, they
walked back and forth across the park four times just to make sure everyone saw
them. It was all going well until the fourth lap when they ran into
Chad Wilson, the big third grade bully.

Chad wasn’t
alone. His sidekicks Steve Campbell and Ronald Jackson stood on either side of
him. The three of them were the meanest and toughest kids in school, and it was
usually best to steer clear of them. Today, however, Stuart didn’t have a
choice because once the bullies saw him with his dragon, they cut across the playground to block his path.

The bullies just
laughed more when they heard this. Snickers didn’t like that at all, and he let
out a bark of disapproval.

“Oh no,” said
Steve. “The baby’s dragon is sad!”

Stuart clenched
his fists. “I’m warning you!”

Chad walked right
up to Snickers and ripped one of the pages of scale drawings off of his side. Then
he crumbled it up and threw it on the ground.

“I think we need
to teach you some respect,” said Chad, punching one fist into the other.

Stuart and
Snickers took a step back as the bullies moved closer. Just before they were
within arm’s reach, Snickers let out another bark and a giant fireball shot out
of him. The flame was so close to Chad Wilson that it singed his eyebrows. The
three bullies froze in shock, then turned around and ran out of the park as
fast as they could.

Snickers let out
a happy yap and wagged his tail again as he looked up at Stuart.